I have been struggling with this because a lot of people around me use it in this manner when they do something dumb or they act in an awkward way and they’ll be like “oh, that was autistic of me” or “I’ve got the tism” and I always feel so uncomfortable but I also don’t know how to raise it or what to say. I am myself not diagnosed, but I’m pretty sure I am on the spectrum. I was just wondering what you think of it and how you handle it.
Okay, I’m going to believe you, for the sake of argument. I’m going to believe Narcissism is what happened to Narcissus.
When Narcissus was cursed, he died. He was too overcome by his emotions to survive. He couldn’t function at any level. He couldn’t drink water that was right in front of him. And it happened because of an intolerant and abusive society.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the same. It’s emotionally disturbing, it’s disabling. It can cause executive dysfunction and even suicide. And studies have shown it’s heavily associated with “adverse childhood experiences” - having been abused as a child. Like what happened to Narcissus.
In a slightly allegorical but largely literal sense, I agree with you; Narcissism refers to what happened to Narcisuss. And you should treat people with NPD the same way you’d treat that abused child from the old story: With compassion, any sensible person would hope.